The Twins
by MiaKitty
Summary: After escaping Castiel, the brothers find themselves on a never ending road with twin sisters who say they know how to save Cas. The brothers must decide if they will trust them or try to escape. M for future content. Dean & Aemeliana, Sam & Aeliana
1. On the Road Again

As the Impala roared down the road, Dean's mind was swimming with the most disturbing things. No small feat, considering what he'd been through, but this was a new one, for sure. Cas was God now. Was that even possible? Far be it from the Winchester's to question all the crazy shit that went down around them, but this was seriously more than he thought he could take.

He glanced at Sam, who sat in the passenger seat, shaking ever so slightly. On top of Cas becoming God by sucking souls in like a milkshake through a straw, Sam remembered Hell. He could recall every last thing that happened to him in the pit, every sick little pleasure Lucifer had taken with Sam as the target. Not to mention whatever it was Michael may have done. At the thought, Dean growled low in his throat, causing Sam to look over at him sharply.

"What do we do now, Dean?" he asked, the most he'd said since the whole ordeal had occurred.

Dean sighed. "I don't know, Sam. I guess we just go back to being normal hunters. Small jobs. I mean, what else can we do? Sit on our hands and wait for Castiel to kill us?"

It wasn't a pleasant thought.

He still wasn't sure how they'd gotten away from Cas that night. It'd been a week ago, and he still had no solid recollection of it. He remembered some kind of vague light, and a woman's voice. But that was it, and even that was hazy. Time had seemed to stop, and when it picked back up he'd had no idea how long it'd been, or what had transpired during their escape.

He wasn't even sure what had happened to Castiel.

About an hour or so after waking up, they'd gotten a call from Bobby, so they knew he was alright. But they hadn't figured out how just yet. It was the mystery he'd been pondering to himself for days. Whatever had gotten them out had to show up eventually.

Sam sighed, rubbing his forehead. He'd been doing that a lot this past week, rubbing his head and speaking in monosyllables. It was understandable. Dean remembered Hell, too, and he'd never been at the mercy of Satan himself. Still, Sam seemed to be pulling himself together, as evidenced by his apparent return to his normal, know it all, blabbermouth self.

"Is that really all you think we should do, Dean? I mean, c'mon. Even if he isn't really God, or a god, or anything like that, he's still more powerful than anything we've ever seen. You know that. And you want us to just twiddle our thumbs and kill a few monsters while we wait for him to show up and gank us?" Sam's eyes were wide and he had that exasperated look on his face. Dean knew he should be irritated at his brother's attitude, but he was just glad to see him acting like himself again. A whole paragraph from him was like a miracle in and of itself. Still, Dean wasn't too happy with Sam arguing with him over it.

"What do you propose we do then, Sammy? Huh? We know nothing about what he is now, we know nothing about how to hunt him, how to stop him. For all we know, he really is God now. How are we supposed to stop that?"

Sam frowned, seeing his brother's point but not wanting to admit it. He glanced at the newspaper at his feet in the floorboard.

"So, where're we headed, then? You got a case, or are we just driving around?"

The headline on the paper was nothing spectacular, just a normal story about some school kids being found with drugs. Sam vaguely remembered passing through the town it talked about a couple days before, so that wasn't Dean's target.

"I got nothing," he replied, confirming Sam's suspicion. Dean didn't know where they were going. They were just driving to drive, to get away from where it had happened. Sam had absolutely no problem with that.

"Well, let's stop at a diner or something nearby, I'll look some stuff up and you can call Bobby," Sam said, though he knew that might be a while. They were in the middle of nowhere at the moment, driving down a long, two lane stretch of highway with trees growing on either side and curving over to form a tunnel. It was a familiar sight for the brothers, and not one they particularly cared for. Driving on these roads always seemed to herald an unexpected case, some monster on the side of the road or a backwoods small town that wasn't on the map. Sam remembered the case Dean had worked alone while they'd been looking for their father, where one of those small towns had been full of religious fanatics who sacrificed one of their own every harvest to a god in the guise of a scarecrow.

Dean had almost been dinner that night.

The same case was weighing heavily on his mind as he drove, apparently, because he glanced at Sam and said, "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. God-"

He cut himself off with a wince. He'd been about to say, 'God only knows,' but that seemed like a bad statement to make at the moment.

"… I mean, _who_ know what we'll come across?" was his recovery. "It might be better to just wait until we get somewhere… less remote," he finished.

Sam nodded in agreement, but to be honest, he was a little on edge about the whole thing. He didn't like driving down this deserted road in the middle of the night with no destination. He really wished that he could pull up his laptop and look for something, some kind of lead to somewhere, but he doubted he'd get any signal to use the internet here. Even if the trees wouldn't block it, there was little chance of any kind of satellite beaming information to a place where no one was asking for it.

Besides, they hadn't seen a road off this one in ages, not even a dirt road leading to a small town or a farmhouse. Sam was grateful that Dean had the foresight to keep gallons of gas in the backseat and trunk when they'd started driving. If he hadn't, they'd have run out ages ago.

The thought made Sam twitch for some reason. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn't place it. Something had wriggled in the back of his head, trying to push its way to the surface, but it had been forced back for some reason. Sam closed his eyes and retraced his thoughts, trying to get it to bubble up again. Something was off about this… what was the thought he'd had? When it came to him, his eyes shot open and he leaned forward.

"Dean! Something's going on, this isn't-"

He was cut off by Dean suddenly hitting the brake. The tires squealed as the car spun out, coming to a stop barely a foot from two women, standing in the middle of the road.

"…real…"


	2. Into the Unknown

At the appearance of the two women, who he knew hadn't been there a moment before, Dean came to a sudden realization. When the whole thing with Cas had gone down, he'd hadn't heard a woman's voice.

He'd heard two.

Two voices, almost exactly alike, one slightly lower, one slightly higher. Harmonized. He hadn't realized it was two because of how well they blended. And he had a feeling the women in the road were the owners of those voices. They stood at even height with each other, almost perfect matches except their coloring. The one on the left had tan skin and light, honey brown hair that went to her waist. She was wearing a long gown, made of some kind of light fabric, like silk, and it was ruby red. The other was unearthly pale, with hair like a raven's wing and wearing a sapphire gown. He couldn't see their eyes, but somehow he knew that they were the palest of gold and silver.

"Sam…"

"Yeah, Dean?" Sam asked, unsure of what to say.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," he said simply.

The two women smiled and tilted their heads in opposite directions before each walked to a side of the car. The woman in blue came to Dean's door, and the woman in red to Sam's.

"Hello, Winchesters," they said together, their expressions growing soft.

The woman on Sam's side waved a hand, and the door opened. She held her hand out, silently asking him to take it, but he just looked at her, partially in awe and partially out of fear.

"It's alright, Sam. We just want to talk," she said, revealing herself as the deeper of the two voices. She looked up and met the other woman's gaze, their eyes twinkling. They looked like they were sharing a joke. Dean wondered what the hell the two of them thought was so funny. He really should have had more important questions, like who they were, or even what, but he was wound too tight and had been too stressed out the past week, so his head wasn't on quite right.

Luckily, Sam was faring a little better in the 'right track' department.

"Who the hell are you?"

Their smiles grew wider before they broke their gaze and looked back at the boys.

"That's not really what you want to ask, is it Sam," the dark haired woman responded. It was phrased like a question, but her tone made it a statement.

"Not really, but I didn't figure you'd answer my real question," he said icily, his eyes narrowed. "Or, rather, questions, because I assume you're the ones who brought us here, and I'd like to know where exactly here is."

The woman in gold extended her hand again, gentling her expression. "Come with me, Sam, and I'll tell you everything."

The woman on Dean's side waved her hand and his door opened. She held her hand out to him in mirror of the other's stance. "We won't hurt you, Dean," she said.

He snorted in response. "Won't hurt us? Like I would believe that?" She didn't waver, just stood there, smiling that creepy, quiet, gentle smile with her hand outstretched.

The gold one laughed, and for some reason, it reminded him of waves rolling off the beach. "I told you they wouldn't come easily, sister," She chastised, looking at the other woman. "The Winchesters have seen much, they know better than to trust a pretty face."

The smile she gave him now was different, open with her teeth showing, and he could see that they were perfectly straight and dazzlingly white. That combined with her warm eyes almost made him take her hand before he thought the better of it. She was right about one thing; he wasn't going to give in just because of how hot she was. _'No matter how totally smoking she is!' _

"We aren't going anywhere with you," Sam said simply, his eyebrows cocked, mocking, almost daring them to question him.

They dark haired woman laughed this time, and her laughter was like the tinkling of bells. After it stopped, however, she grew serious. "If we give you one answer, to any question, will you come with us? This area is not entirely safe."

It was Dean's turn to arch an eyebrow. "Not safe? You brought us here and say it's not safe? I know what question I wanna ask, where the hell are we?" His voice got progressively louder, until he was almost shouting at the end.

The girls met gazes, and then looked back at the boys. "You are in the land between what the Lord made and what already was," the one in red answered.

"And it is not safe here, because this is the gateway to that realm, and the one who would usurp the Lord can hear you here," her sister finished.

Sam and Dean exchanged a confused look. "I thought God made everything," Dean said sarcastically. He didn't believe them, clearly.

For the first time, the two girls looked a little angry. Goldie sighed. "You cannot make something from nothing, Dean. And in order for Him to exist, doesn't it stand to reason that other things would exist as well?"

"Think of it this way," her sister supplied. "A writer writes a book, creating a universe. In it, they are God. In the outside world, however, there are other things. There is life. Your world is the books, and this is the world they would live in." She gestured to the side of the road behind her, and he noticed that the trees were shimmering slightly, like a mirage.

"This isn't really what this place looks like, is it?" he asked, frowning. He didn't like not knowing what was happening. It was too soon after Cas. How could they expect him to believe their ridiculous story and just walk off into the woods with them? It had to be a trap.

The woman on his side shook her head. "No, Dean, it isn't. This is an illusion we cast to keep you comfortable while you traversed from one realm to the next. We had to get you here."

Sam snorted. "If you need us here, why did you stop us now? Why not wait until we were where you wanted us to be?"

"We cannot do that. You must make the final steps of your own free will. It is the law that governs our connection to your world. Heaven is a part of this realm, one of these in betweens. God built it as a utopia for His followers and a haven for his angels. Those who accept him accept this world, and they are able to make the change. But the parts of Heaven you have seen are not the true Heaven. It is merely a holding place for them to stay while God waits to bring his children home. It is how things have always been. No one is sure why."

Dean looked at Sam, arching his eyebrow. '_Are you buying this?_' he wanted to ask. Sam apparently understood, because he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. No, he wasn't buying it any more than Dean was.

Suddenly, both of the women looked up into the sky. They then exchanged a panicked glance before reaching their hands out, their expressions desperate.

"Sam! Dean! He has heard us here, we were told not to meddle, but we have no choice now, you must come with us or you will die!" The silver woman's voice was terrified. Her sister was still looking around wildly, holding her hand out for Sam. Dean growled ever so slightly, about to tell them off for trying to pull such a dumb trick, when a sharp ringing began in his ears, one that was painfully familiar and completely unwelcome. Then the pain started in his chest, and he could hear Cas' voice, warning them not to defy him.

"Well, fuck," he said, and the boys took the women's hands.


	3. The Sun and the Moon

The second their hands made contact, the world around the Winchesters and the mystery women seemed to dissolve. The same strange shimmer that Dean had noticed over the area before consumed it, and what was left was possibly one of the strangest things he'd ever seen. The area was comprised of soft, pastel colors and nothing seemed solid. If he hadn't felt the ground beneath his feet, he would have said that there wasn't one. He started to say something, but Sam beat him to the punch.

"Really? Heaven is in the clouds?"

The girls, much calmer now, giggled ever so slightly, smiling at them.

"You could say that, I suppose," Sam's girl replied. "Although these are not truly clouds, not in the sense that you mean. When God made the clouds, he studied the composition of this realm. There are portions of this world that are like yours, because everything he made was inspired by this. The main difference is that all the planes here can be walked upon. It is why Jesus was able to walk on water. In the world he is from, they are all the same, but different."

"Do you drink the water?" Sam asked, looking around in awe.

The girl holding Dean's hand shook her head. "We take no sustenance from the realm's planes. We are sustained by the realm itself, by its energy."

"Magic," Sam said.

They shook their heads. "No, magic exists only in your realm. Here, all things are possible, through the use of energy. It is more like science than magic, truly. I believe there is a saying among more, ah, free spirited scientists on Earth, that magic is merely science they don't understand. There is more truth in that statement that many realize," responded the silver one. She glanced at her sister before meeting their gazes. "I believe you had more pressing questions to ask, Winchesters. Perhaps we should get to those and give you the tour later? We have all the time in the world, as they say."

Dean got angry then. "What do you mean, all the time in the world? You mean we're stuck here forever?"

She shook her head, her hair following the movement in soft waves, like water. "Nothing so terrible, Dean. Time does not exist here. While you are with us, here, your selves on the Earth are merely in a sort of stasis. Time there has stopped, in a sense. When you return, you will return to the exact moment you left. Once more, you will be on the road, exactly where you were when we began to bring you here."

Sam's expression grew confused. "Before we get to the who and what, I have a why. Why didn't you just bring us to that world at once? Why the long journey? We had to have been on that road in the in between for hours."

His girl replied, "You had to understand what was happening, at least in some sense. We could not appear to you until you acknowledged that what was happening wasn't what you thought it was. There is a reason God's children must accept him to be brought into the kingdom. A soul can only transverse the realms when they know that such a thing can happen, will happen or is happening. Because we had to bring you without informing you first, we had to wait until you realized, on some level, what was happening."

"I was surprised how long it took, to be perfectly honest. The two of you are usually so quick to jump to conclusions that something is amiss," her sister added. "If we had known how long it would take, we probably would have tried to come up with a more expedient plan."

Dean grunted a little. If the strange shimmering had been evident throughout the time they'd been on the in between road, he couldn't say he didn't agree. He chalked it up to being focused more on the road and getting away from Cas.

"Alright," he said, changing the subject, "So who and what?"

The sisters exchanged another look before nodding slightly and returning to the boys. Sam made a mental note to pay attention to when they did this. He suspected they were communicating with one another when it happened. Whatever they had discussed had only taken a couple of seconds, another thing he wanted to study carefully. If there were any chance it would help them out should things turns sour, he wanted to be aware.

"My name is Aeliana," the golden sister told them. She then gestured to the other woman. "This is Aemeliana. We are the first of God's sentient creations."

"You're angels?" Sam asked, his expression surprised. It was the last thing he'd expected from them. They seemed… different from the angels they'd met. Something was off. His confusion deepened with their answer.

"Not angels," Aemeliana responded. "We were made before that. The angels were made from the energy we give off, to be His servants and the guardians of His favorite creations, the humans."

"What was made before the angels?" Dean asked. He didn't remember ever hearing of anything before God and the angels.

"We are the physical manifestations and guardians of the realms. If there were lore on us, they would call us the Gatekeepers when referring to our duties. But our presence in the human world is known, just not as a physical being. Or, not any longer. There was a time that we were worshipped by old cultures."

"And almost always, I was represented by a man," Aeliana said, pouting ever so slightly. Sam wanted to laugh at her expression, but he felt like it would be a bad idea.

"So, what are you in our world?" Sam asked.

They exchanged and glance again. "In your world, I am the sun," Aeliana said simply.

"And I am the moon," her sister responded.

Sam and Dean's eyebrows shot up in surprise. They didn't know what they'd been expecting, but that wasn't it.

"And we are the stars and the planets and all the solid matter in space," they finished in unison.


	4. God's Helping Hand

If you're interested in seeing what the twins look like, search user miakittygorowr on DeviantArt. There is an image uploaded for you to see!

* * *

><p>The silence stretched out between the group as Sam and Dean wracked their brains for some kind of response. All the questions they'd had flew out the window at the sister's proclamation. The sisters were apparently content to let the silence continue, exchanging another of those glances but not speaking. Sam wanted to say something and break the silence, but he couldn't think of anything. It wasn't every day that someone told you they were the sun and moon.<p>

Dean recovered more quickly than he did.

"So, you're the sun and moon and stars, or whatever. What exactly is that supposed to mean to us?" He sounded a little angry, and the sisters each reached an arm out as if to put their hands on his shoulders. Dean stepped back before they made contact, and the girl's arms fell back to their sides.

"On its own, it should mean nothing," Aemeliana answered, "except perhaps a bit more information to add to your wealth of knowledge. But it is important that we speak on another matter. So, any questions you have on us should be asked now."

"What on earth is it that you could possibly want to talk to us about?" Dean asked. Sam had to admit, he had a point. If they were the sun and the moon, whatever that might mean, it was for sure a sign that they were insanely powerful. What on Earth could they want with them?

Aeliana smiled a little. Sam was of the opinion that they were reading their minds, which wouldn't be so surprising, really.

"It concerns Castiel, and his recent increase in power."

"You mean, his becoming God," Sam supplied, but Aemeliana shook her head.

"Castiel is not God. He merely believes himself to be. In truth, such a transition is impossible, except under the most specific of circumstances. In order to become one such as the Lord, you must absorb their essence. Castiel merely took in souls, not what makes God what He is."

"So, if he's not God, what is he?" Sam asked.

Aeliana's lips thinned. "It is… complicated. Suffice to say, he is the most powerful being on your plane. But, he is not all powerful. Still, he must be stopped. This path he is on is… wrong. It will land him in a very bad place if he is not saved."

Sam and Dean looked at each other, eyebrows arched. "I'm pretty sure he's beyond saving. He's gotten pretty full of himself lately. I mean, with the whole, 'you must accept me as God or die' thing," Dean said sarcastically.

The sisters shook their heads in unison. "No, he must be saved. It is vital. He has many plans which the Lord finds unacceptable. I can only ever remember Him being this angry once before, when he cast Lucifer into hell. He will not stand for one of His children to go around, passing himself off as the one true Father."

"So, wait a minute," Dean said, his anger spiking. "You mean to tell me that, when we were going through hell to try and stop the apocalypse, He was just sitting on His righteous, holy ass, but now He's got his panties in a wad because Cas wants to claim the job? He took off, sounds like He didn't care to keep it to me!"

Aemeliana let out a soft cry, moving to just in front of Dean and placing her hands on his chest less time than it takes to blink. He shuddered as her hands made contact with his chest. He could feel the power running through her.

"No, Dean, He was watching, waiting for you to truly need Him. But you always had a plan, were always in control," she said, the faintest trace of desperation in her voice.

"Always in control? Always in control my ass! We died over and over, had our asses handed to us, almost lost the fight, at what point did He think we were in control?"

"Everything went as planned, Dean! Whenever something went off track, He helped! He can't come down from this plane and fix everything, His touch must be soft!"

"What do you mean, soft? We needed Him, and he couldn't be bothered to tell us _we were following a plan_?"

Aeliana shrieked then, a high pitched sound that hurt their ears. Dean jumped at the sound and went white as a sheet.

"We don't have time for this arguing!" she screamed, showing more emotion then than they'd seen from either sister until now. "What does it matter, why He did anything He did? He is the Father, we are not to question His plan and His will! And no matter how long we stand here discussing it, nothing in the past will change! It is over! So stop dwelling on it and focus on the now! Because at the moment,_ that_ is what matters!"

Sam and Dean both took a step back. As she'd shouted, she had begun rising in the air, and her hair had begun flying around her. Her golden eyes were like molten gold. Aemeliana shrieked, the sound almost exactly like her sister's, and rose in the air, placing her hands on her sister's shoulders.

When the sisters made contact, all the energy Aeliana had been giving off suddenly sapped out of her, and they both fell back to the ground, landing on their feet. Aeliana's expression was dazed, and her sister had tears in her eyes.

"Sister, you must remain calm!" Aemeliana cried. Aeliana nodded, slowly coming to. Sam and Dean looked at each other, both certain that they were thinking the same thing.

'_We shouldn't have come here.'_

Aeliana took a few breaths before turning back to the boys. "I am so sorry for my reaction. Of course, you have questions, and are concerned as to the reason behind the Lord's apparent lack of care during these trying times," she told them, her demeanor completely changed.

Aemeliana petted her sister's hair, turning back to Dean. "His reason is quite simple, if you could only remain calm, I will be happy to explain," she said. Sam snorted.

"Right now, I think we're more concerned with what just happened, thanks," he said, watching the pair with wary eyes.

Aeliana nodded, shaking ever so slightly. "Yes. Well," she began, looking into Sam's eyes, "I am the sun, a star and all the stars. As such, I can be… volatile. I apologize for my behavior."

"Now then!" Aemeliana said suddenly, her eyes moving from one brother to the next, "To explain God's absence. You see, God's power, as I am sure you can imagine, is quite vast. Since He created the world, it has only grown. His entrance into the realm He made for you all to reside in would destroy it. As such, He cannot interfere too much with your matters. If He did, it would cause a problem worse than the one He was trying to stop. So, He has allowed himself only the most minor of meddling. Only enough to push you into the direction He wished for you to go."

"So, instead of just stopping it all on His own, He had to make us do it," Sam summarized. The sisters nodded, once again linked by that weird, twin unison thing.

"Yes. He was quite impressed with you both, actually. He hardly had to interfere at all. The worst of it came when the hunters shot you both. He was so angry then, both realms shook with his rage. But the angels did their job right, and He only had to put the slightest of push into the Heaven in between."

"So, I've got a question," Dean interrupted, still not quite satisfied.

"Did he even want the apocalypse to happen?"


	5. The Sham Apocalypse

At Dean's question, the sisters sighed in unison. Aeliana shifted her weight onto her back leg and crossed her arms, her eyebrow arched. Aemeliana, in contrast, looked defeated, her frame slouching ever so slightly. She looked to her sister, who waved her on impatiently. She nodded.

"Yes, well… about that," she started, wringing her hands. "I, ah… I would think that you would be able to answer that yourselves. I mean, it seems fairly obvious, right?"

Sam thought for a moment, but he couldn't seem to see whatever it was she saw. Dean, on the other hand, didn't seem to think it warranted considering.

"Obvious, my ass! What, he let it happen, so it was supposed to? Except he had no real control over it, or the world would get destroyed anyway! So, what about this is obvious?"

Aemeliana jumped a little at his outburst, while her sister stood behind her, scowling. She stepped forward.

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'don't shoot the messenger'? We're just here to give you the information you need to take care of this whole deal with Castiel, and answer your questions. There's no need for you to get all uppity."

Dean's expression grew dark as he stared her down, but she didn't react. She matched his glare with one of her own. "No need… to get all _uppity_?" he hissed. Sam sighed and rubbed his forhead. Aemeliana moved to stand behind Dean, putting her hands on his shoulders. He tried to shake her off, but she held on.

"Dean, we are trying to _help_," she pleaded. "Just… you need to remain calm, and let us explain."

"Then explain!" he shouted, knocked her hands off his shoulder and turning. "Stop with this riddle bullshit and come out and say it! You think it's obvious? Well guess what! It's not! Because while you were sitting here, thinking about how we should have known what the Almighty God thought of this whole deal, we were a little busy, trying to stop it! So please, enlighten me, what about this whole thing is so _obvious_?"

"If you had really paid attention while you were researching the lore, you would know that the apocalypse, as it came to pass on Earth, went completely against the Lord's design," Aeliana said simply, daring Dean to argue. When he didn't, she turned away from him, and walked a few feet from the group, staring out into the clouds.

"Tell me, Sam, Dean, what is one of the very first signs of the end, according to Christian lore?" she asked, seeming far away from them, as if her mind were elsewhere.

Sam thought about it for a while. He knew that obviously, whatever this first sign was, it hadn't happened in their experience, but he couldn't seem to think of anything. Dean seemed equally confused by the question, looking to Sam. The brothers both shrugged before looking to Aemeliana for the answer.

"When the war between Heaven and Hell is to begin," Aemeliana began, trying to lead them to the answer, "who shall lead Heaven's forces?"

Dean scowled at the question. They were still speaking in riddles, trying to make them find the answer instead of giving it to them. Sam felt like they probably had a reason, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Michael leads Heaven's army," Sam said, still not getting their point. Michael may not have gotten the vessel he wanted, but it wasn't from lack of trying. Much to his surprise, however, the sisters each shook their heads, and Aeliana turned to him. Suddenly, she was less than a foot from him, her golden eyes staring into his intensely.

"No, Michael is not the leader," she said. "He is the second in command. Come now, Sam, surely you can figure it out? He is only the most important figure in all of Christianity."

Dean still didn't get it. "I thought God can't be directly involved," he said, clearly irritated, but Sam shook his head.

"No, God isn't the most important, not really," Sam said enthusiastically, finally catching on to the point the sisters were making. "God is a figure in all the monotheistic religions. But, there's one thing that separates Christianity from Judaism, Islam, every other religion…"

Dean finally got it. "Jesus," he said. Then, he turned to the sisters. "You're kidding, right? So, what, Jesus didn't come back, so the apocalypse was a sham?"

The sisters met eyes, their expressions amused. "Essentially, yes," Aemeliana said, happy that her sister was calmed down. "In God's plan, His son's return is the first occurrence. But, Lucifer's followers weren't satisfied to wait-"

"He should have seen that coming, I think," her sister interrupted, a sarcastic smile on her face. "But, He has always been a bit blind to the machinations of that particular son."

"So, what, Lilith got her panties in a bunch waiting and kick started the whole deal without the go ahead from the big man upstairs?" Dean asked, and they both nodded.

"That is the short version of it," Aeliana said, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder. He glanced at her, noticing that they both seemed to be finding any reason at all to touch him and his brother. He made a mental note to talk to Dean about that once they were back home. "Basically, Lucifer thought that if he started the war, he'd have the upper hand. Seeing as his defeat was inevitable in God's version of things, there wasn't much incentive for him to follow the game plan. So, he came up with his own."

"So, why didn't God just send Jesus down? Bring in the cavalry?" Dean asked.

"Because he didn't have to," Aemeliana said, smiling and running a hand over his shoulders. "The two of you did delightfully! He was most impressed."

"Sending His son would have made this into the real war. The end. He wasn't ready for it, said that it wasn't time yet. So you can imagine that He was very happy to find that it was unnecessary and that you both had it under control." Aeliana grimaced a little. "Well, more or less under control. He did have to give you a push every now and again."

"So, in order to keep the apocalypse from being the real apocalypse, he let us take care of everything."

"If he'd sent the son, it would have made everything the two of you were working towards pointless," Aemeliana said, smiling and brushing Dean's shoulders again. He glanced at her strangely, clearly noticing what Sam had made a note of a few minutes before.

"Alright, so He let us take care of it so that He didn't have to send in the big guns," Sam said. "So, what's the deal with Cas, then?"

The sisters shared another look before Aeliana sighed. "Yes, well. Castiel. He has… overstepped his bounds, at the very least. And God is not happy. If you can't solve this dilemma before he makes his move on humankind…" She couldn't seem to finish, but Aemeliana didn't have a problem.

"Then God will take him down."


	6. My Favorite Machinations

Sam's eyes went wide. "Take him down? Like, down, down? Like kill him? Personally?" He's known the situation was big, but this idea that God would take it into His own hands made it seem a lot more serious.

Aemeliana nodded, a definite sadness in her eyes. "I'm afraid so," she told him. "And such a shame, too. I rather liked him."

Aeliana rolled her eyes. "Yes, it will be such a shame to lose an angel as wonderful as Castiel," she said sarcastically. Dean shot her a look. "What? It happens. Things die. My favorite demon died almost a millennia ago, I didn't whine about it."

"Favorite _demon_?" Dean hissed. "What, are you the evil sister, too?"

Aemeliana shook her head insistently. "Not evil! We are… we are supposed to be impartial to the dealings of demons and angels, to good and evil. We do have our preferences, but they are not swayed by good or evil. Rather, those whose machinations most amuse us-"

"_Amuse_ you? So, people's suffering _amuses_ you?"

"No, no, not at all!" she answered, "It's just… well, we enjoy watching things change. For beings that are constant, it's fascinating! Like, when you would watch a movie! A horror movie, or an action movie! You aren't happy that those teenagers die-"

"Speak for yourself," Sam laughed. They all gave him a crazy look. "What?" he asked. "I'm just saying… I mean, have you seen the most recent Friday the Thirteenth? Those idiots are asking for it."

Aeliana smirked a little. "The point we are making is, obviously, your suffering isn't amusing, it doesn't please us, but we can like the direction it takes things. The demon I spoke of, he was so ambitious! His plans laid down the building bricks for so much of today's society! And there was good that came out of his crimes. So, he was my favorite."

"In the same way, Castiel has done so much for the world. Without his influence, the two of you would never have managed all that you have. And so, we-" Aeliana interrupted her sister with a little snort, "_we_ are quite upset at the prospect of the Father having to end him."

Sam glanced at Aeliana. "I take it you're not too broken up about this?"

She sighed a little. "It's not that I don't like Castiel, I do. Quite a bit, actually. But, there are two particular beings," she gave the brothers a significant look, "Who I am much more partial to, and God has decided that it is their job to put a stop to this."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. "So, you're okay with God 'ending' Cas because you'd rather him die than us?" She nodded simply. "Why?"

Her eyes sparkled. "Because! The two of you have made some of the most interesting moves I have seen in… I don't think I have ever seen a more interesting pair! I mean, we've said it already, haven't we? God didn't even have to send the Son in to clean up Lilith and Lucifer's mess because of the two of you! You are some of the most, if not _the_ most, influential people to have ever existed, human, angel, demon, monster, no one has done more than you! And without God having to tell you! For God to sacrifice the two of you, to save _him_? It just seems so… so wasteful!"

"So, what, we're more important than he is?" Dean yelled, growing even more furious. "Castiel is my friend, and you're throwing a hissy fit about saving him because you think we're more important than he is?"

Aemeliana cut in. "No, you're not more important, no one is more imp-"

"Screw that!" Aeliana said. "They are! Castiel may have helped them to their goals, but I have no doubt that they would have done it without him! The Winchesters never give up on anything!" She turned to the brothers, her eyes intense. "You are so driven, and even when you have nothing to go on, you manage! No one else in all of existence has ever had the drive to do as you do! And I would know! So don't tell me that he's your friend and you should be willing to die for him, because I don't care! I want you to _live_, Castiel be damned!"

Sam stepped between his brother and Aeliana, holding Dean back as he moved to hit her. "Dean, just chill, alright?" He turned to Aeliana, frowning. "But, it doesn't really matter, right? I mean, after we're done, can't you just bring us back? It's been done before."

Aemeliana shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid it won't work that way anymore. God has forbidden it. He says that the laws of His universe have been bent and broken enough, and that from now on, death is the end. No more resurrections. For anyone, not just the two of you. He says that a sacrifice is a sacrifice, and allowing people to return after dying for a noble cause cheapens what they did."

"So, if you're so mad about the idea of us saving Castiel because you're worried about us dying in the process, why are you bothering to tell us anything at all?" Sam asked Aeliana.

She smiled, the expression a little sad, a little sarcastic. "Because, I know that the two of you would have, eventually, decided you couldn't just sit on your hands over the whole matter, and would try to take some sort of action. And you're more likely to get yourself killed without the information we can provide. So, here I am, trying to arm you as best I can."

"You know, for someone who likes us so much, you sure don't seem to think to highly of us," Dean bit out, still pissed.

She sighed. "I do like you both. I just… Dean, you frustrate me sometimes. You have such a quick temper! So fast to judge, to yell and blame! And Sam, you have zero survival instinct. I mean, how am I supposed to remain patient with you when I see you throwing yourself into the fire? When you took hold of your body and jumped into the pit, it was all I could do not to reach in and steal you back."

Aemeliana smiled. "Aeliana, like you, Dean, has a quick temper. And when you endanger yourselves, or make foolish decisions, it scares her, and she is not used to being scared, so she gets angry instead."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, sounds like you two are peas in a pod," he said, laughing.

Aeliana smirked. "I could say the same of you and my sister. Aemeliana is forever watching over every little detail she can, trying to find out every little thing. She is incapable of taking the leap without looking first, until it really matters. Then, when she needs to look most, she leaps with so much passion! And she feels so much, and shows so little!"

Dean smirked. "Yeah, sounds like Sammy." His eyes went wide for a moment, and he looked at his brother with concern. "Hey, wait a minute. You're… you're alright? What the hell?"

Sam's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Hell, man, you remember hell! You've barely spoken for days and now you're back to your normal self. What gives?" He turned to look at the twins. "Do you two have something to do with this?"

They exchanged a look, and moved forward, each placing a hand on Sam's shoulders. "In a way, yes," they said in unison, back to the freaky, magic twin behavior they'd exhibited when they'd first arrived. Aeliana rubbed Sam's shoulder, almost lovingly, and gave him an affectionate look. "In this world, the pain goes away. Remember what the Lord's word says, that in His realm, all suffering is eased. And so, while here, Sam is not suffering any ill effects of his time in the pit." Her eyes clouded over, and she suddenly looked very upset. "However, that is the extent of it. Once you return, it will return. I am afraid I cannot help, at least not permanently. My sister and I can ease it for a while, but…"

"But it will not last." Aemeliana finished, patting her sister's head to comfort her. "We could bring him back here when it begins to wear thin, of course, but it will have to be done again, repeatedly."

Dean frowned. "So, why not just do that? Have him come back to get all fixed up?"

They leaned forward, in front of Sam, and looked at each other, sighing together. "It may not take," Aeliana said. "And there is no telling how long it will last. With what is at stake now, it seems to be the most expedient plan, but…"

"But the more times we do it, the harder it will be for him to face on his own. And he must face it alone, eventually," her sister finished, and they sighed again. Aemeliana stepped away from Sam, coming to stand with Dean, squeezing his shoulder gently. He gave her an odd look before brushing it off to deal with the matter at hand.

"So, why are you willing to do it now?" he asked.

"Because we don't have much time, I'm afraid," she replied gently. "Castiel must be saved, or He will stop him. And since the two of you must save Castiel, Sam must be at his best. And so, we must help his mind to bear. But, starting from the moment we cast the magic, you must begin to work towards the goal at hand. There can be no time wasted. And you must be sure. If the two of you are not positive you can save him, or are unwilling, you need only say so, and God will end him now. You are the only ones who can save him, and so you are the only ones who He will wait for."

Dean and Sam looked at each other, resigned. Dean sighed and ran his hand over his head, then to his mouth. Sam just stared, his expression fierce.

"So," he said, "how do we save Castiel?"


	7. Lucifer Ain't Got Nothing On This

Aeliana's eyes clouded over. She had been hoping that the brothers would, for once, put their own good ahead of that of others. But, she had known they wouldn't. It was part of why she respected them so much, and part of why it would be such a pity if they didn't last. God had not gifted the twins with precognition, so they had no way of knowing whether or not Sam and Dean would be successful. Only the Father knew, and He was keeping it to Himself. Her respect for the Winchesters grew, even as she mentally steadied herself for their failure.

Sensing her thoughts, Aemeliana gave her a soft, encouraging look. Ever the optimist, her sister had more faith than Aeliana did. Perhaps it was in their design, or perhaps it was simply part of their personalities that had developed from the seed God planted. She'd always wondered if God had made them the way they were, or if it just happened. He knew all and saw the future better than most do the present, but unlike a human Seer, whose visions changed if a person changed their path, God saw only what would pass. If a person changed their mind, he already knew that they were going to. Because of this, there was some question as to whether or not His design was truly His design, or if He was blindly following the path He saw. Whatever the case, He would never share it with them. It wasn't their place to know, He said. As two of the few beings God would communicate directly with, it was sometimes frustrating that He would keep these sorts of things from them.

Returning her thoughts to the current situation, and to the brothers, she waved a hand, and the clouds around them changed to form a sort of table and cushions to sit on. She gestured to the area, indicating that they should sit. Aemeliana sat down on the cushion closest to her, and Sam sat to her left. Dean followed suit, sitting across from Sam. Aemeliana sat between the two, looking over the table at her sister. Another wave and the table's surface changed to a strange water-like substance. An image of Castiel appeared on it.

"Castiel has gained his newfound powers by taking in the souls who have been trapped in limbo," she began softly. "When he completed the ritual, he brought forth and took into himself enough to give him powers that are unparalleled in your realm."

"Tell us something we don't know," Dean said sarcastically. "We already know all that."

Aeliana cut him a sharp look. "Never the less, I must tell you again. It is important to start from the beginning."

Her sister put a hand on Dean's shoulder, offering him a smile. "What time we take to explain will not be wasted as it is in your realm, Dean. Time has no meaning here."

He grunted, remembering that they had told them this. He supposed if there was no time passing, they wouldn't lose any by listening. But he'd never been particularly patient. Having to listen to what he already knew would eventually start to get on his nerves.

"So, you were saying?" Sam asked, trying to get them back on track and keep Dean's anger in check.

Aeliana flashed him a smile. "Yes. Well. As you can guess, souls are not meant to be… stored in such a manner. It is unnatural for them to be brought into a life form as an energy source. Souls are… well, they are people, obviously. In their purest form. So, to take them in as Castiel has is something of an abomination. And they are going to want out. The souls singular desire is to return to this world, to the home God created for them. Here they can flourish. Limbo was created as a holding place for souls when they are not ready to come here but refuse to remain on Earth."

"So Limbo's like a waiting list," Sam said, and she nodded. "So, if they're going to try and get out, and they are this ultimate power… I take it this isn't just about God's bruised ego," he finished.

"Unfortunately, no," Aemeliana said sadly. "This is much more serious. Souls are second in power only to God. And, knowing that God's hand in the human realm would mean destruction, you can imagine what will happen if the closest thing to him is unleashed."

"So, it'll destroy the world, too, then?" Dean asked, but the sisters shook their heads.

"Not at first," Aemeliana answered. "First, it will unleash Chaos. Not the controlled chaos that Lucifer revels in, but true, unimaginable Chaos. The world would literally rip itself at the seams. It is the one true end of the world. In this scenario, everything but God would cease to exist, and He would have to rebuild the world from the beginning. Any being with ties to your world would be sucked into the Chaos, into the End. Then, there would be nothing."

The brothers both sucked in a breath, their eyes wide. "So, this is the worst possible situation for our world," Sam said, recovering before his brother did.

"Yes, essentially," Aeliana said. "So, the only solution is to get them out of him, in slow, controlled amounts. Taking them out all at once would-"

"If they can't all be moved at once, how did he get them all at once?" Dean interrupted.

"The portal he opened is a safe passage. It controls their energy, creates a direct line from Limbo to the person who opens it. So, technically, the souls never touched your world. But, in order for you to reverse that process, Castiel would have to willingly give up the souls. Since he will not, we must try another method, to slowly siphon the souls back into Limbo over a period of time."

"How long?" Dean asked. The two exchanged a look.

"It is uncertain," her sister sighed. "Each time the souls touch this world, it will cause small bursts of the Chaos to come forth. You can't pull the next portion of souls out until the waves caused by the previous ones stop."

"Wouldn't Cas notice he was losing juice?" Sam asked. Aeliana nodded sadly.

"That's part of what makes this so dangerous. Once he realizes what's happening, he will be furious and try to stop you. We are going to try and block you from his radar, but while you are taking the souls, there will be a path between you and him that he can follow. So, each time you attempt to drain him, you must do it flawlessly, so that it doesn't last longer than necessary."

"No pressure," Dean said, his eyebrow arched. Aemeliana smiled at him and his attitude.

"You will do fine," she said, rubbing his shoulder. "We have faith in you."

He sighed, unsure. Their attempts at exorcising demons and ghosts had never gone flawlessly, he couldn't see this going much better. And having to do it more than once would be taxing on them. Sam gave him a look, echoing the concern.

"So we have to take the souls out. How do we do it?"

The sisters exchanged a strange look, and Dean had a sinking feeling that things were only going to get more complicated sounding.

Story of his life.


	8. Aligning the Energy

Aeliana and Aemeliana shared a look before pulling a small section of their hair over their shoulders. They began braiding the sections silently, leaving Sam and Dead to stare, confused. The twins movements were perfect mirror images of each other's, with Aeliana's honey colored hair over her left shoulder and Aemeliana's raven hair over her right. The two simply stared into space, and then, as the braid reached the halfway point, began chanting softly. A golden beam suddenly became visible in Aeliana's braid, and a silver one in her sister's. Their eyes gave off a soft glow.

Dean started to speak, but Sam held up a hand, staring at Aeliana as if he were mesmerized. He had the distinct feeling that if they spoke, it would ruin the ritual. Dean scowled, and turned his gaze to Aemeliana. The scowl fell off his face, and he mirrored Sam's awestruck expression. He could feel a strange energy moving between the two of them, across the table, and felt as though it were enveloping him and his brother. The sisters abruptly stopped, their braids completed, and the energy and glow dissipated. They each pulled, the section of hair coming away as if it had been clipped in their hair rather than attatched.

"What the hell was that?" Dean asked, his eyes wide.

Aemeliana handed him her black braid, smiling. "This is the first item you will need for the ritual. You'll need a new braid for each performance."

Aeliana gave Sam her own braid. "The braids will need to be unwoven at the start, and woven together at the end. This represents the opening and closing of the door between your world and Limbo."

Dean arched a brow. "So, are we going to have to go on some sort of scavenger hunt for this deal to work? Because if the first item is hair from two beings that we didn't even know existed, I doubt the others will be a cakewalk to find."

Aemeliana smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Actually, finding this would have been the single most difficult task you'd ever undertaken."

Dead snorted. "Harder than fighting Luciffer?"

Aeliana nodded, her eyes serious. "There is no mention of my sister and I in human lore. If you had ever found the ritual, you never would have understood what it was asking for, and would have wasted countless hours trying to. It might not have actually been as difficult, but it would have felt as though it were from the sheer amount of frustration that would come from the lack of information."

Sam nodded. "So, basically, you're doing the hard part for us."

Aeliana laughed a little, but shook her head. "Make no mistake, Sam, the ritual is exceedingly difficult to accomplish, if only because it must be done perfectly and quickly. We are merely helping with the hardest part of the 'scavenger hunt,' as your brother put it."

The brothers nodded, glancing at each other and the braids they now held. Dean could see the faintest silver glow running through the braid, and he could feel the faintest pulse in it. He looked up and met Aemeliana's gaze. She offered him a smile.

"You can feel it, can't you, Dean? The power?"

He nodded, and Sam did as well. "I can feel it, too," he said. Her smile grew, her expression enthusiastic.

"Excellent. That is important, you see. This ritual can only be performed by brothers whose energies are corresponding, but the reverse of one another. Twins usually work better, but you two are so close, your energies have aligned appropriately," she began, waving her hands eagerly as she spoke. "Everything in the ritual is done in twos, and in opposites. Half the items required will have energies that go with the sun braid, which is Aeliana's. Sam, you will need to work the aspects of the ritual that involve these items. The other half will go with my braid, which is the moon braid. Dean must care for these."

Aeliana gave the brothers a hard look. "The sun items and moon items must never touch, and you cannot, under any circumstances, make contact with an item that corresponds to your brother. The contact with an unaligned source will change the energy."

"Sort of like a magnet," Sam supplied, and she nodded.

"Essentially, yes. You will be able to feel the difference in the energy of the items. Or, rather, you won't. Because you can only feel the energy from the items that align to your own."

Dean leaned forward a bit, brandishing the black hair in his hand. "So, if Sammy grabbed this, it would just feel like hair to him," he said, half asking, half explaining. Aeliana nodded.

"And, once he touched it, it would become just hair. If you set the braid down, Dean, you would still feel my sister's energy coming from it. You will be able to sense it for a little less than a mile."

"So, if we can feel the energy from so far away, why would this be so difficult?" Sam asked.

Aemeliana placed a hand on his shoulder, smiling. "It's the spell we cast that is allowing you to sense it. Without that, you would have been blind. The magic we cast made you sensitive to the energies."

"So, why is it that I'm in charge of your stuff and Sam's in charge of your sisters? Just random, or what?" Dean asked, curious. He had noticed that the two seemed to each be favoring one of them, and found it a little too convenient that Aeliana's magic just happened to align with Sam's, and Aemeliana's aligned with his own.

Aemeliana smiled knowingly. "Something about your energy aligns with my own, and Sam's with my sister's. It was not a decision we made, nor was it random. It is just the way it is."

Her sister gave a little smirk. "But how very astute of you to notice, Dean." She gave Sam a significant look. "Strange, how often these little twists seem to happen."

Sam shifted a little uncomfortably at the look, and Dean gave the faintest of laughs, trying to cover it with a cough. Aemeliana gave him a wink, her hand reaching over to him. He coughed a bit more, and waved his hand.

"So, um, we were talking about the ritual," he said, trying to get them back on track and a little disturbed by the light in her eyes. They had started to swirl, it seemed, and he could feel a pulsing sensation.

"It's my energy, Dean. With the spell cast, our energies have aligned and connected. You can feel my presence."

He nodded, uncomfortable. Aeliana apparently read this from him, because she decided to get them back to the matter at hand.

"So, here's what you'll need."


End file.
